Abstract
Kierkegaard's The Sickness unto Death famously characterizes despair as the sickness of any human being who does not live a life of faith. Kierkegaard supports this claim by providing a detailed analysis of despair in the first part of this essay. This analysis, I claim, presents the thesis that to be healed of despair is not only to maintain a correct relation to God but also to the world and, moreover, that the two relations are interdependent. Thus, in contrast to prominent readings of this essay, I claim that Kierkegaard's analysis of despair bears the important moral implication that a believer's relationship with other humans is indispensable to a life of faith.
Original language | American English |
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Pages (from-to) | 25-43 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Religious Studies |
Volume | 52 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Mar 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014.